A heart for giving

Girl raises funds to honor a beloved uncle

May 3, 2012

Instead of gifts for her 11th birthday, Savannah Stringer asked friends and family to make donations to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in honor of her uncle Luke who died from the disease at age 20. She raised $1,845, surpassing her goal. This is a group shot at her party. / Submitted photo

Written by

Juliana

GOODWIN

Memorial scholarship

To learn more about Lucas Brett Stringer Memorial Scholarship Fund, a memorial fund set up in his honor, visit www.luckystreamer.com

Ozarks Life

Ozarks Life is a new feature that appears every Thursday. Our goal is to reflect the people and traditions of the Ozarks. If you know someone you think is worth profiling, contact Juliana Goodwin at 836-1124 or email jlgoodwin@news-leader.com

Savannah Stringer presents a check for $1,845 to the local chapter of Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. She raised the money by forgoing gifts at her 11th birthday and asking people to donate to the foundation instead. Stringer said she will work to raise money for research until there is a cure for diabetes. / Submitted photo

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Savannah Stringer was only 5 when her uncle Luke died.

“When we had family dinners at Grandma’s house he would bring us into the living room and make baskets out of big blankets and wrap us in them and swing us around,” said Stringer, a fifth-grader at Disney Elementary.

Luke passed away on May 22, 2006, at age 20, due to complications from juvenile diabetes.

Savannah has since devoted her life to raising money for the cause. She collects coins in a jar, sells crafts in the neighborhood, and recently turned her 11th birthday party into a fundraiser. In lieu of gifts, she asked friends and family to donate to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Her goal was to raise $1,500, but her parents warned her that was too ambitious.

She raised $1,845.

“I don’t think I’m ever going to have a normal birthday party again,” said Savannah. “I know I’m going to do this every year because it made me happier than any present. There wasn’t much anyone could give me that would make me happier. All that other stuff didn’t matter because it’s God first, others second and I am third.”

That giant heart is nothing new for Savannah, says Suzanne Stringer, Luke’s mom.

“She has been taught that everyone has a purpose and she sees this as her purpose. It’s heartwarming and at the same time, unbelievable for a girl who is so young to get it. She does get it,” Suzanne Stringer said.

In kindergarten, Savannah decided she wanted to grow her hair out for Locks of Love, a charity that makes wigs for cancer patients. So she grew her hair until second grade when it was finally long enough to cut off and donate.

Each Christmas, with a group of girls, she sells scarves at the church bazaar and donates the money to help families that the church has adopted. Last year, they raised enough to buy a bunk bed.

She has set up lemonade stands in the neighborhood, too.

“Me and my friends did this lemonade stand and people could donate to Humane Society, cancer or diabetes. A lot of them chose to do it to diabetes. There were even a couple of people who had diabetes. I told them they were my hero. We raised $60 that day,” said Savannah.

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Kristi Stringer said her daughter has always had a heart for giving.

“We believe in donating time and money and we hope we’ve helped instill it, but it is very much in her nature,” said Kristi Stringer. “She always has ideas to raise money for things.”

Savannah said she just wants to stop diabetes so people “don’t have to go through what Luke went through and families don’t have to worry about it.”

Luke "was the neatest kid"

Lucas “Luke” Brett Stringer was 16 when he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, a shock to his family because there is no diabetes on either side.

A popular kid, he was an avid golfer and athlete.

“The whole family golfs. I was too cheap to get a babysitter so he just came with us and swung the club as soon as he could walk,” Suzanne Stringer said.

Like Savannah, Luke had a heart for people, said his mom. He was studying to be a doctor.

“He was the neatest kid,” said Kristi Stringer. “So good with his nieces and nephews. You hear so many young people today making poor choices and he was the opposite.”

After graduating from Aurora High School in 2004, he went to Missouri State University (then SMS). The night he died was the end of finals — he just completed his sophomore year — and he was supposed to start a job the next day at a urologist’s office.

Suzanne Stringer talked to her son at 10:30 p.m. She can only imagine that because of finals, he had not been taking care of himself. When his roommate found him the next day, there were empty juice bottles surrounding his bed, so it’s clear he realized his blood sugar was dropping, but didn’t realize how much.

The autopsy showed his blood sugar was 8.

“He was on a pump and the pump kept going and lowering his blood sugar. ... It was absolutely a freak thing that should not have been the case, but it was,” his mom said.

Luke was the baby of his close-knit family and talked to his mom every day. She was also attending SMS, getting an art education degree, and they’d frequently meet for lunch.

After he died, she didn’t go back. Still can’t go back.

“It’s going to be six years and you’d think that it gets easier, but it’s not,” she said.

As the anniversary of his death approaches, an extremely painful time, there is comfort in knowing that Luke is still remembered.

“Every parent who has a child that dies, their biggest fear is that their child will be forgotten,” Suzanne Stringer said.

But Savannah won’t forget.

“Diabetes is something I will care about for the rest of my life unless somebody finds a cure,” she said.